Harvey +12, Wednesday September 6, 2017

Well, what can I say…Lisa stole the show today. 

This morning Lisa and I drove together for her yearly check-up at MD Andersen. (Quick background - in March of 2007 Lisa was diagnosed with Stage 3c breast cancer and after surgery, chemo, radiation, and more chemo she has been cancer free.)  Today for her appointment she was told, for the first time since she had been diagnosed, she would be able to stop taking a cancer prevention medication.  This is a HUGE milestone and awesome news.  For a while, there was no Harvey, no damaged house, no flooded streets…there was just Lisa.  It is a terrific feeling.

After the appointed we decided to celebrate by having lunch at one of our favorite places, Torchy’s Tacos, which is about 2 miles or a 10 minute drive from our house.  This is where Harvey stepped back into the picture as it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to go the two miles from lunch to our house.  CRAZY!

To explain, look at the map below and you can see that after rush hour, at 7:00 pm, it still takes 40 minutes because we can’t go straight as an arrow.   The reason for the circuitous route is because of Buffalo Bayou - if you look at the middle left of the map you will see a meandering green area and the thin blue line in the middle of the green is the bayou.   Because Buffalo Bayou is still flooded it has essentially cut the city in half – think of it as a Mason-Dixon line in the middle of city.  To get around this intersection in our area (West Houston) there is a 10+ lane highway that runs North/South but there is a section of this highway that is flooded for about a quarter of a mile – yes, it is entirely full – approximately 1,750,000 cubic feet of water or 13, 090,090 gallons of water sitting on a highway.  So…long story short is it now common for commutes to be 5x the normal amount of time.  Just another weird effect of Harvey.

Now for something completely different (for Monty Python fans)…I was in touch with relatives in Miami who are evacuating and I made them an offer they have already refused.  (I am like the opposite of the Godfather).  I told them I can offer them and all their friends an Evacuation Vacation for the whole family.  The family can learn boating safety and techniques, new and exciting carpentry skills, do science experiments with mold spores, learn navigational skills, and support those in need.  I think maybe I should open up a website – Rosenthal’s Evacuation Vacations – Learning Based Escapes.

In other news, we made more progress on the house with organizing and one thing that was exciting for us was that we received mail.  A small thing if you get it every day but a great thing when you want life to return to normal.

OK, enough for tonight – our North Star for the day was Lisa’s terrific news. 

Have a great night!

Nat